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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

lackluster.

Lacking brilliance or intelligence.

10 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˈlæklʌstə/Received-Pronunciation/ˈlaklʌstə/British, Southern, Standard/ˈlaklʊstə/Northern-England/ˈlaklʌstəɾ/Scotland
  1. Lacking brilliance or intelligence.

    US
  2. Having no shine or luster; dull.

    US
  3. Not exceptional; not worthy of special merit, attention, or interest; having no vitality.

    US · figuratively
    The actor gave a lackluster performance in his latest film.
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree English lack English lust Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Italic *-āzios Latin -āriusnom. Latin -āriusbor. Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz Proto-West Germanic *-ārī Old English -ere Middle English -ere English -er English luster English lackluster From lack + luster.

noun/ˈlæklʌstə/Received-Pronunciation/ˈlaklʌstə/British, Southern, Standard/ˈlaklʊstə/Northern-England/ˈlaklʌstəɾ/Scotland
  1. Lack of brightness or points of interest.

    US · uncountable
  2. A person or thing of no particular brilliance or intelligence.

    US · countable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree English lack English lust Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Italic *-āzios Latin -āriusnom. Latin -āriusbor. Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz Proto-West Germanic *-ārī Old English -ere Middle English -ere English -er English luster English lackluster From lack + luster.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.